Providing more warmth and ample natural light, south-facing windows are highly desirable in the UK. Rooms that are south-facing are often turned into living rooms, halls, and other gathering spaces.
Being central to the home’s appeal and comfort, choosing the right blinds for your south-facing windows is key to bringing the best out of your rooms! This blog post will guide you through the best blinds for their south-facing windows.
Best Blind Types
Roller Blinds
Practical, affordable, and capable of partially regulating heat and sunlight, roller blinds are a middle-of-the-road choice that while not particularly excelling at anything, does its job well as a blind for a south-facing window.
Exterior Blinds
Exterior blinds offer excellent cover, maximise space, and provide exceptional privacy. This is all doubly true for a south-facing window where protection from the sun and heat is paramount!
In addition to staving off excessive heat, exterior blinds are excellent at insulating your interior and furniture pieces from harmful UV rays. This in combination with the excellent privacy they provide has made them the blinds of choice for larger halls and living spaces. If you want safety-first blinds that maximise comfort and space, you can’t go wrong with exterior blinds.
Venetian Blinds
The simplistic elegance of Venetian blinds has made them a classic in households for centuries, and they’re not out of vogue yet. They make for a perfect match with a south-facing window as, aside from having excellent aesthetics, they give you fine control over the amount of light coming in.
Roman Blinds
Roman blinds don’t give you the same control over shading that Venetian blinds give you, but they more than make up for it in versatility and design. Homeowners have the choice of a multitude of designs and shapes to choose from – they can pick the Roman curtains that complement their south-facing rooms best!
Pleated Blinds
Though not popular in the UK, pleated blinds dominate much of the market in the rest of Europe. These thin, lightweight blinds provide sufficient shading while maintaining great air circulation. If you want constant fresh air in the room, these are the right blinds for your windows!
Traditional Curtains
We’d be remiss to not mention traditional curtains when discussing window coverings. Though they’ve fallen out of favour recently, they’re as elegant and chic as ever, and while they’re not compatible with more modern interior design trends, if you have a period home or a traditional layout, you should consider traditional curtains.
Picking the Right Blinds
After choosing the blind type you want to go for, you need to decide on its fabric, style, colour, and more. These aren’t easy decisions – here are the key things you need to consider:
Getting Aesthetics Right
Their functionality isn’t the only relevant property of blinds, their aesthetics, and how they impact the design, layout, and atmosphere of the room arguably matter more. If the south-facing window overlooks the front of your house, the blinds will influence your property’s curb appeal as well!
There are no hard and fast rules in interior design – There are basic axioms like the style and colour scheme of the blinds should match and complement the room, but beyond that, the qualities you should look for in blinds will depend on your preferences.
Insulation and Heating
Not only relevant for the summer heat but for winter as well, it is important to consider how your window coverings impact the insulation and heating in your home. Here, everything from the colour of the blinds to the fabric and its thickness matters.
Thicker, larger curtain fabrics provide better insulation during both summer and winter. In winter, they absorb more heat; in the summer, they can completely block light from the sun, keeping the interior cool. The colour of the fabric matters, as well: Darker colours absorb more heat and are considered “warmer,” lighter colours vice versa.
Motorised or Regular Blinds?
Another choice you have to make is whether you want to go for motorised or regular blinds. The former has become increasingly popular with homeowners, and it can make for an excellent addition to a south-facing window, allowing you to control the amount of sunlight on the fly with a remote control!
Motorised blinds’ only downside is that being designed to be fully operated electrically puts a limit on how they’re designed and styled. Traditional long curtains, for example, don’t have motorised variants. For many popular blind types, like Venetian, Roman, and Exterior blinds, however, excellent and affordable motorised variants are readily available!
Considering Alternatives to Blinds
If you want to create shading and improve the interior design and curb appeal of the home, blinds aren’t the only option. There are alternatives definitely worth considering.
Take awnings for example. Much like blackout blinds, they can completely block out sunlight, create shading on demand, and improve the exterior appearance of your property. But they also have additional benefits like creating outdoor spaces that are usable year-round. If you have a patio or a balcony, an awning could be the right choice!
